Poor treatment of customers

Sir,

During my current two-month holiday in Cyprus I have become a regular reader of your paper.
This morning I was most interested to read in the comment section an article titled ‘A shabby approach to the customer’ (August 26).
This afternoon, my friend and I witnessed a similar occurrence in a small bar in the Yermasoyia tourist area. The establishment was practically empty apart from a family of four and a couple of single chaps. We were watching a live football match and enjoying several beers when a middle aged Scottish couple entered and also ordered two drinks.
After half an hour the owner approached the latest arrivals and asked them if they would care to order another drink, the gentleman declined replying, “I am fine at the moment thank you”. With that the barman became very abusive and told them to drink up and leave his almost empty bar at once! He pointed to a half visible notice at the end of the room that stated: Customers must purchase a drink every 25 minutes during a live sports programme.
You can imagine the disbelief and surprise of this couple, who had not seen the notice and were not really interested in the football match. The atmosphere became very unpleasant with angry words exchanged on both sides.
Needless to say my friend and I drank up and left long before the end of the match.
I am sure the Scottish couple will have had their day, if not their holiday ruined by this embarrassing situation and will return home with bad memories of Cyprus hospitality, to share with their friends.
Mike Toogood (Major Retired)
Southampton, UK

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.